The Reasons Why I Killed You
by BeingWhoIWishIWas
Summary: Roy Harper is helping the YJ team with a mission involving a hard-drive and long lost secrets, but a mysterious and dangerous girl named Edge (OC) shows up. She may be the key to the disappearances and murders that are becoming more and more frequent; most involving superheroes with knives in their backs, accompanied by a note. Is Edge responsible? How does it involve Roy Harper?
1. Caught

"Hey!" The red-headed teen yells at the cat burglar, "Stop, _now!_" He pulls back the string on his red bow. The girl whirls around,the wind whipping her blonde-ish hair against her face as she smirks at hims, waving her fingers and laughing.

"Not likely, Red." The girl calls back, holding the hard-drive in between her forefinger and middlefinger; showing off.

Red Arrow releases the string and send the arrow flying towards her. She dodges it, then charges him. The girl jumps from her perch and lands just in front of Red Arrow, he struggles to load his bow as she begins her attack, throwing punches and snapping her wrist as a knife suddenly appears in each of her hands, making swift cuts of various depth and length along his arms as he desperately tries to protect his bowstring. Finally, he lashes out in a high kick, it connects with her shoulder, sending her sprawling.

She lands on her side, but her face hits the concrete on its side, she hisses in pain but pushes herself up with her right arm, avoiding using her left because of her bruising shoulder, she rests in a crab-walk position, not looking up at him. He smirks and twirls the handcuffs around his index finger.

"Wanna come quietly or attempt to fight?" The seventeen-year-old superhero asks haughtily.

She smiles at her feet. Suddenly, her head jerks up and her smile fades. "Shhhhh." Red Arrow frowns.

"Don't move, don't turn; trust me for half a second and I'll go with you; hand-cuffs and all." Her voice wavers slightly and her eyes are wide, her jaw is set. She puts her hands up and slowly gets up, using her legs only. She slides a knife into her hand, seemingly out of thin air, this sets him on edge. She studies the air behind him warily.

"Alright, sweetie" She says, eyes narrowing. Red Arrow scowls before he realizes that she'snot talking to him. "Back it up, you know I can nail you with this without blinking. Red Arrow hears a rustle behind him, he watches as the girl stays tense for a goo few minutes. After that, she relaxes with an exhale of relieved breath.

He jingles the handcuffs. She frowns, sighs and sticks her arms out. His eyes widen in disbelief, which she seems to find offesive, saying, "A promise is a promise, Red. I doubt you'll be happy I kept it though."

"That a threat?" Newly dubbed Red asks suspiciously.

"No, a fact. It won't be my fault; being a theif and being the bad guy are two very different thing. You remember that, Red." She huffs.

"Stop calling me that." Red says sternly.

She laughs and says cheerfully, "Not likely."

Red rolls his eyes under his mask and none-too-gently drags the girl back to the van where the Team was waiting. She frowns, staring at the building beside the van intently, as though she knows something about it, and doesn't particularily like it.

"Who the heck is that?" Robin asks, intrigued.

"Dunno, she stole the hard drive though." Red explained.

"Rescued." She snorts.

Artemis frowns, turning around in her seat, "Rescued? From who?"

The girl sniffs and says shaking her head, "Not who, they aren't a who."

"Okay...still..." Robin says uncertian by her answer.

"Not now." She says sternly, "Maybe not ever."

The Team quiets and Red points to a seat and sits down next to her. Artemis starts driving and blasts some music, letting everyone relax now that they had sucessfully retrieved the hard drive and its theif.

"Why'd you save me?" Red asks the girl quietly, confusion leaking into his voice. His brow furrows andhe waits for an answer.

She meets his eyes, "No point in letting one person die while trying to save another."

That definately didn't quiet Red's questions and she could see it on his face. It was odd he hadn't asked her what her name was yet. No motives or anything.

"What's your name?" Speak of the devil. She raises an eyebrow and he corrects himself, "What should we call you?"

She smirks and says, "Call me Edge."

"On account of you blades?"

His susupicions are confirmed as Edge chants, "Throw 'em, catch 'em, just don't find one in your back."

"So what do we do with her?" Robin asks warily.

" I tell you my name and you don't use it...?" Edge says, obviously a little annoyed, "Next time I'll save my breath!"

Robin colors a bit and defends himself, "Sorry, I didn't think I heard you right; Bats was talking about someone called Edge, but I didn't think she'dbe captured so easily."

She just shrugs, not saying anything about saving Red Arrow. He raises an eyebrow at this and does it for her, "SHe saved me from something; to get me to tust her she said that she would come quietly. What was it, anyways?"

"It'd take a while to explain; I'd need to draw it out." She shrugs, gently pulling on the cuffs to show them why she couldn't at the moment. "But I will later, OK?"

"Fine." Red and Robin say simulatiously.

The drive continues and Edge can see through the tinted window that the urban scape was quickly turning into coast and fields, a giant mountian lay ahead, not more than a few moments away. A burst of sound rushed overhead, and the Team and their captive saw the huge black jet sink down through the top ofthe mountian. Edge frowns as she thinks of the owner of that particular black jet; he'll not be very pleased with her.

* * *

Authors Note!

There are not enough Fics about Roy Harper out there so I figured I'd add to the collection. :) Give me lots of feedback and I swear I'll try to improve!

Thanks a ton,

BeingWhoIWishIWas


	2. Thrown

"So what's on the hard-drive, exactly?" Artemis asks.

Every head turn to look at her; who on earth, or, more correctly, who in this van wouldn't know that?

She colors and says, "Hey! I missed debriefing!"

Robin snorts but doesn't say anything; he looks to Edge to explain. She's the one who stole it, after all.

"It contains information on the heroes and innocents that have been murdered or abducted; as well as the written notes left in their place or with their bodies. All in different handwritings; untraceable. Or so they say." Edge shrugs.

Artemis pulls the van up right into the mountain, and keeps driving straight into it, Edge suppresses a gasp and squeezes her eyes shut momentarily, not stopping to wonder why the others weren't shocked by Artemis's sudden death wish. Red lets out a laugh beside her. Edge scowls and mutters curses under her breath.

"You actually thought..."

"Shut up."

"Never wondered why we..."

"Shut up."

"Only phrase you know?" He smirks, narrowing his eyes.

She whips her head up, glaring, "Be. Quiet, Headache."

"You have a headache?"

"No, but you are one." She huffs, realizing she probably seems childish. Too late now. Bats is gonna kill her anyways.

"Ouch?" Robin smirks, turning as the van halts to a stop, through nearly running over a teen guy in red and gold. Edge decides that it's most likely Kid Flash.

The four of them stream out of the van and meet KF. Red (or Headache, whichever you prefer) drags Edge along by her arm, leading her to the main room of the Cave, with nothing more than a "C'mon".

Edge is greeted by every set of eyes in the room, and once they notice the silvery cuffs around her wrists, most turned hostile; or at very least suspicious. A man swept into the room, hood shading his merciless eyes. Batman was tense; Edge was not someone he wanted anywhere near this mission, whatever side she's on. Edge stirs up trouble in whatever she touches; turns a breath of wind into tornado with a few tricks with her knives. She's clever, but not always for the better.

"Why did you bring her here?" The Dark Knight demands, anger seeping into his tone. Edge smirks, amused by the reaction; she knew that man that was once uncle-like to her would be very unsettled by her sudden reappearance.

Edge tears herself out of Reds grasp and steps forward, "Sorry, Bats. Got caught." She shrugs, a slight smile tugs at her mouth; threatening to ruin her first impression for the team; no haughtiness today.

"For what reason?" He interrogates, definitely not believing her.

"For the reason that I got caught...?" She says simply.

"You're not a person easily caught." His brow furrows under his mask, he narrows his eyes to slits and stares her down. She doesn't budge in any way. He didn't expect her to.

"Headache over here caught me." She says, jerking her thumb at Red. Batman doesn't look impressed. Red looks insulted.

"Red Arrow? He's one of the best but from my information, you had a head start and thirteen knives on you. You turned around. Why?" Bats questions, crossing his arms.

"There was a note. It...landed just behind him. He was next." She says honestly, meeting his eyes, then Reds.

"What did you do?" He asks, surprised. Something in Edge had changed, then.

"Threatened him, told him what I knew, and how fast I could bury my knife in between his ribs. My reputation preceded me, apparently."

"You're one of the quietest in the world of heroes and villain. What reputation?" He laughs harshly, believing her to be lying.

"Correction; quietest in the world of heroes. As for the darker side; I'm a bit better known." Edge frowns, her brow creasing. "They aren't such fans of me, anymore."

"The Arkham Incident?" He asks, referring to the huge prevented breakout, Edge publically locked them in, while capturing dozens of criminals and exposing the betrayals of several officers and guards. The villain world's fourteen-year-old prodigy had shut them down, and they weren't the type to forgive. Despite this, once discovering who Edge was at Arkham, never fully trusted her again. They stared each other down with narrowed eye, trying to decide whether they can stand to be in the same room for any longer. Batman had betrayed her, and she kept a vital secret from him; trust seemed a bit impossible at this point and they were weary of it. Most of the team is confused by this odd stand-off between the two and kept back. Robin figured it out a while back and Red was in the process of connecting the dots.

"Who's doing this? Every kill or disappearance is different; never in the same way; the only thing that connects them is the note, and even those have different handwritings and no prints on them, none signed or asked for a ransom." Red asks.

"Probably a team of people..." Artemis trails off.

"I doubt it. To precise a style; expertly executed no matter the form which they brought death, and there's never a struggle with the kidnappings. perfectly clean." Edge wonders aloud.

"That narrows it down to about ten people, four of them standing in this room." Batman says confidently.

Edge raises her hand like she's in a school room, " Actually, it doesn't. There are dozens in hiding that are too good to show their faces in noticeable ways."

Batman looks like a corrected teacher, very unhappy, "More secrets you feel like sharing, Edge?"

She smirks and says, "Didn't know it was secret. Assumed you knew."

"You assume that about a lot of things." Batman says wearily.

She grins cheekily, like a kid and replies, "Hey, you know things about being good that I don't, I know things about being villainous that you don't."

"So you were a criminal?" Red Arrow asks.

She colors, which is a bit odd considering she doesn't often show her shame of it openly, "Uh, yeah. I guess."

Batman snorts, but says nothing. Edge looks at him pointedly, wanting him to burst into flames but not fully knowing why; she really should be used to his disapproval by now. She shrugs it off. Until Red asks another question, at least.

"What did you do?" His eyebrows are arched in suspicion, not liking her answer to the previous question.

Her mouth goes dry, she ought to have suspected this prying but she was still caught off guard. "I-"

To her surprise, it's Batman that comes to her rescue, saying, "Roy, if you don't want to start divulging your past, I don't suggest you pry into hers."

"Headache's name is Roy?" Edge sounds amused.

The Headache in question glares at her crossly, retorting, "Oh yeah? What's you, Oh-so-spectacular name then?"

"Well, I don't see how it's any of your business."

"Well, I don't see how it's any of your business," Red says, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth, "WIDSHIAOYB, for short." (Pronounced whid shieeob)

Edges mouth hangs open in shock; what on earth...? This guy's insane.

"Come on, Widshiaoyb, I'll show you the 'guest' room, ok?" Artemis snickered. Edge narrows her eyes and doesn't budge.

"It's alright Widshiaoyb, go on." Red says gloatingly, knowing she won't hold out long, and that Bats can verify if she's lying or not.

Edge sighs and says, "Fine."

"So now your name is 'fine'?" Robin cackles, joining the game.

"No, my name is Jessa." She looks down, glaring at the floor as though the name itself is poison.

"It's not that bad..." Red says, trying to get her to stop burning a hole in the floor. Batman shakes his head, murmuring about idiots and pasts.

"It was my mom's name too." She says bitterly, "Yeah, that's not bad at all."

Red backs off pretty quick, holding his hands up in surrender. Edge storms out of the room, her face bright pink, her jingling cuffs de-dramatizing her exit even more than her not knowing where she's going.

"What...just happened?" Red asks Batman wearily.

"You pried into her past." He shrugs. Edge didn't deserve that, and he figured that Red knew that now too.

The teen sighed and shook his head, grumbled about stupid girls and starts in the direction Edge went.


	3. Jab

"Edge?" Red wandered around the Cave looking for the upset teen. She's been here less than an hour and she's already found a nook where they can't find her; that can't be good.

Why'd she run off anyway? Bats said something about her past so maybe something happened to her mom or had something to do with her. He shakes his head, half annoyed, half concerned and continues searching.

Finally, he spots something out of the ordinary; a silhoutte on a support beam, perfectly still, but he has no doubt it's her. She wouldn't have a problem climbing up there, he remembered when he was chasing her and the hard drive before the note landed behind him; she had no trouble scaling walls and cfinding ways over tall fences without slowing her pace; and slowing his significantly.

He grabs at the wall, trying for a handhold until he finds one, then a foothold. He propells himself upwards, Edge doesn't even flinch. Red Climbs up and sits opposite to her, studying her face. Edge just stares at her feet, jaw clenched and shoulders hunched. She was not in the best of moods and Red had half a mind to sneak away before things got ugly.

She slowly brought her head up, facing him. "What are you doing up here?" She asked wearily, "Guess you had to come find me before I escaped or something."

"Uh, no. I just wanted to see if you were ok, you seemed pretty ticked off..." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck, not knowing what to say.

"I'm always a short step from crossing the line; this is pretty normal for me. Don't worry your red little head about it too much. She explains, looking at any where but him. For whatever reason, this bugs Red; it's like she's ashamed or doesn't trust him.

_No duh, she _doesn't_ trust you! Why would she? You captured her and pried into her past; of course she doesn't trust you, and she certianly doesn't like you!_ A stern voice in the back of his head scolded, _And you shouldn't trust her either!_ Red pushed the voice to the back of his mind again and scrambled for something to reply.

"Ok." Came out of his mouth before he could think of something less-insensitive.

She shrugs and tilts to the right, falling off the beam; she curls in a tight flip and easily lands on her feet, abrubtly ending the conversation that wasen't really going anywhere. "Coming?" She says without looking up at him.

Red nods and climbs down in a less-impressive fashion, and they walk back to the main room, where a few sparring matches are goingand Miss Martian is making chocolate-chip cookies again. Bats beckons to the two of them, waving his hand in the air.

"Red Arrow, are you planning to stay for the duration of the mission or the previously decided three weeks?" Batman asks with narrowed eyes, he wonders if Edge will have scared him off, yet.

"I'll definatly stay for the three weeks, more if I can manage it." He replies, wondering why Batman was so concerned about it all of a sudden. He gave Edge a sideways glance, thinking that it could have something to do with her.

Batman turns slightly, facing Edge, "Alright, what about you?"

The corners of Edge's mouth turn down as she asks suspiciously, "What about me?"

"Do you plan to stay in cuffs or help out?" He clarifies, though Edge's expression remains the same; she doesn't like the sound of this. Bats normally wouldn't trust her within twenty miles of a Young Justice mission, let alone want her to help. Something must be up.

"Depends." She replies neutrally, studying his face for any trace of something off.

"You'd be a part of the team temporarily."

"What exactly would my job in the mission be?" Getting information out of Batman was like trying to make a dog 'meow'; nearly impossible without high-tech machines.

"You'd inflitrate the building undercover as a bodyguard and act as a source and theif." The Dark Knight explains (grudgingly) for once in his life.

Lots of fighting and theivery? Sounds fine to her. Then again, anyhing would work just then; she'd been dying to get these scraps of metal off her wrists for a good few hours. It's taken all her will-power not to cause more trouble by picking the lock. Even if she did manage to esape; she was tired of running from both sides; at least now maybe she'd have some safety with the heroes.

"Fine, get me out of these things." She said, holding out her wrists. Red unlocks them and gives them to Batman. Edge rubs her wrists, just in case it makes either of them feel bad for her, but she quickly follows it with a smirk.

"Understand though, if you don't follow through-"Batman is cut off by Edge saying, "Or else I'll be hunted down and thrown in Arkham and die; that play is getting predictable, Bats."

He starts to retort but decides against it; no point in arguing with the self-righteous teen, he knew that he had to pick his battles with her.

"However, you won't be the only one undercover." He says, looking at her skeptically, "I don't want you going back on us."

She crosses her arms and asks who she'll be accompanied by.

Batman jerks a thumb at Red saying, "Him; you two haven't cut each others throats yet so it's the most logical choice."

Edge extends her arm and slaps her palm to her face, and Red frowns saying, "You sure that's wise? I captured her..."

"But she saved you anyways, you'll both be fine. Besides, anyone else might provoke her, you've already gotten that out of the way." And with that he leaves them, one with an open mouth and the other with a red mark on her forehead.

Curse you, Batman.


	4. Fight Me

oh jeez. It's a writers block chapter...readers beware, this was a tough one.

* * *

Edge frowned, a crease forming in her brow as she stares intensly at the wall, like the answer is written on the wall in a code; she just has to decipher it. If only it were as easy as that; Edge could handle mind-bending codes and symbols or a ticking time bomb; just don't make her to get along with people in order to do it. She huffs and mutters a curse under her breath. Red does the gist of that as well. Just because they hadn't murdered each other yet, that doesn't mean that they like each other or will continue their streak of not killing each other. After all, Red had captured her.

"You'll be expected to train together. You realize this, right?" Batman said, turning around after a moment of endless (and extremely awkward) silence.

Edge grudgingly nods, while Red just crosses his arms, preparing to refuse to work with her, but the protest dies before it leaves his mouth; he honestly couldn't come up with a valid argument! Batman would shut him down before he'd said a word. This was just unfair!

"Fine." Red says, "One spar."

Edge nods, a smirk tugging at the corners of her lips as she replied, "Watch yourself, Headache; don't make me have to save you in order to win. That trick only works once for strangers!"

Red huffed and gestured for her starts fighting, he himself bent his knees and put his fists up, ready to lash out or block. Edge did the same, a slight smirk forming on her face.

Both teens stood utterly still, perched on the balls of their feet, staring at each other; waiting for one of them to twitch so the fight can begin. Edges eyes narrow and she clenches her fists harder, growing more impatient with every second that passes. Red scoffs at her, almist laughing at her impatience; he needs her to be angry, she'll slip up if she is.

"What are you waiting for?" Edge says through clenched teeth; something about him was really bugging her, she couldn't put her finger on it. "Are you just going to stare at me all day or can we fight now?"

Reds face colors but he manages to ignore the jab, "I'm waiting for you to gather enough courage to fight me, I thought that was obvious."

Edge raises an eyebrow, annoyance pricking at the back of her mind. Edge takes a breath and forces a carefree smile; she will not let her anger get the better of her this time.

Red is suspicious of her sudden demeanor change; stormy to sunny in give short seconds; not likely. She probably recognized that he was attempting to use her anger against her and was trying to throw him off. Sorry, sweetheart; anyone could tell that you're mad. Red thinks, trying to hidr the apparently sudden smirk.

Suddenly, in the time taken by Reds eyes opening amd closing in a blink, a weight crashes into his torso and Edge is not where she was a second ago.

Did she just _tackle _me? Reds mind struggles for an explanation, only just barely parrying the oncoming blows instinctively

Regaining his composure, he swings his leg into the air; foot flying towards her head. Edge ducks under with a quick roll, standing up behind him and jabbing him in the back.

"If I was holding a knife, you'd be dead." Edge pointed out as she threw her arms back, stretching her shoulders. Red frowned, not liking this at all. She was right; he needed to step up his game.

"Well you won't always be holding a knife, so i guess you'll have to kill me again." He retorted sourly.

Edge nodded, saying, "So now I'm a knife-throwing zombie-killer. Good to know."

This comment did nothing to help Reds mood, and he lashed out at Edge as she charged, she dodged most of the blow but it clipped her jaw, sending her a few feet off course. She retaliated, ducking down under his swing, and rocketing up, her elbow connecting with his gut.

"Ahgrh!" Red yells incoherently, clutching his stomach, using plenty of colorful language as well.

He watches as Edge dances out of the way of his half-heartedly thrown punch. His eyes narrow and he lets go of his stomach as his lungs regain a bit of air; just long enough to burst towards the unsuspecting girl, tackling her. She quickly kicked him off and was up faster than she fell.

Her lips turned down in a slight frown, waiting for him to get back on his feet. When Red was standing again, she let loose a small fraction of the fury she had been saving up for all her life; just like she would in a regular fight. This was no mindless rage, it was old, hard and intelligent as well as passionate. Not even a thousandth did the trick nicely. She flew at him; giving him a roundhouse to the ribs, and parried a low punch before retaliating with a fist finding his cheekbone. A bruise is already forming by the time her fist is a foot away. However, a foot is not, unfortunately, out of Reds arm reach, which is much longer than the smaller teens own reach. Red catches her arm and holds it in a vise-like grip. Edge struggles and twists but can't escape.

"Yield." Red says, resisting the urge to sneer, if they were to get along, he would have to be a little nicer. But he would only play nice if she did. Edge never plays nice. Looking back, he should have known that.

"Are you saying my line for me?" She replies, smiling, though not unkindly or bitterly. It occurs to him that a genuine smile from her is rare. Only after getting past the smile does he process the words she has said, and immediately wonders why she said them.

Seconds after wondering this, he feels a cool, sharp steel blade at the back of his neck. Edge has turned herself around in his grip and has put her arms around his neck, one of at least thirteen blades in her hand. Reds brow furrows as he tries to think of a way out of this trap. It's a good thing she's on their side.

"I yield." He sighs, annoyed and embarrassed. Edge backs off, but before she turns, Red opens his mouth again and says, "Can you teach me that?"

She whirls around and looks like shes about to reply to an insult, but upon seeing that he meant it, the sharp words retreat back from her mouth before she lets them loose.

To Edges surprise she hears herself answer, "Ok."

Batman rolls his eyes almost fondly at the two teens but does not say anything from his hiding place in the shadows. Those villains won't know what hit them. He almost felt bad. But not really, they would be the first of many to fall to that pair. The first of a great many.


	5. In

"Alright, so first of all, you need to figure yourself out." Edge tells him bluntly, "be able to detect and use your strengths, but also realize your weaknesses and work on them."

Red stared right though her, completely uninterested.

Edge narrows her eyes and starts again, "For example, you're weak and stupid so you should avoid fighting in general."

This caught his attention and he snapped to attention just enough to glare at Edge, burning a hole in her forehead with his gaze.

She huffed and says, "Look, I know you hate me, but you literally asked for this and we've only been at it for an hour!"

Red falls on the floor, exhausted, "Three." He mutters under his breath.

"What?"

"Not an hour, three." He says closing his eyes.

"Get up, now." Edge says sternly, towering over him, "C'mon, please? I wont make you do drills or sparring anymore!"

He grumbles but sits up, hunched over and extremely unhappy.

"What's your advantage over me?" She tests him.

He thinks for a moment, studying her before replying (and feeling a but like an elementary student) "I'm stronger and my reach is longer."

She nods, her face still stony, "Disadvantages?"

"None." He says regaining some of his humor. She stifles a snicker before giving him what he dubbed "the gecko stare of annoyance". He replies seriously this time saying, "You've got better training and are faster, smaller and keep your anger in check While using it to your advantage."

Edge was impressed, Red was observant even when he was about to kneel over of exhaustion. She nods when he looks at her expectantly.

"We're done now right?" Red asks wearily.

"Yeah, C'mon. M'gann said she's making chocolate chip cookies again. Edge had been with the Team for a week now, and M'gann had baked cookies four times; three of those times included Connor soaked in milk, eggs or sugar, or a combination of them all.

Red smirks as he grabs her hand, pulling himself up, saying, "We're all going to be fat by our next mission."

Edge rolls her eyes, "Just Wally and Rob could, but they run or swing off things to often to get fat anyways."

Red snorts, "True enough."

They walked to the kitchen, M'gann was predictably busy, and Connor was equally predictably covered in milk. Edge nudged her way though the chaos and into the fridge, pulling out a turkey, ham and cheese sandwich, wrapped in cling wrap, and tossing it over M'gann at Red, he catches it and hold his hands up for another one, which she promptly tosses. She tosses him three more and bobs and weaves back out of the kitchen, narrowly avoiding being clocked in the head by a flying bag of chocolate chips.

"Did you get lunch?" Artemis says walking over, "Wally and Rob are hanging out in the weight and rings room, you two coming?"

Red nods and the three of them walk into the room, taking seats on the equipment.

"So, the missions coming up." Robin says, prompting a conversation.

"Yeah, this is going to be a weird one; we've never done a long term infiltration before now." Artemis says. Wally and Artemis will be infiltrating as security guards.

"The disguises will be cool though, you get to look like five years older!" Robin says jealously. Being the youngest of them all, looking five years older sounded appealing. It didn't sound as exciting to the seventeen-year-olds.

"I guess," Wally says uninenterested,"But being an adult doesn't seem too great."

Robin raises an eyebrow, but most of the older teens seem to agree with Wally, so he keeps his opinions to himself, he'd rather not start a petty argument the day before his friends leave. Robin sneaked a sideways glance at Edge, hoping she was as trustworthy as she seemed. She put Bats on his toes, and if Bats was suspicious, he ought to be too, even if she did seem like a decent person.

* * *

"All of you are ready? You know your cover stories and names, etcetera?"

The four of them nod in unison, ready to finally start the infiltration; they were already in their individual disguises.

"Good, quiz each other on the way, understood? You know the rules; if one cover is blown, the rest stay put, the one exposed runs for their life, got it?" The Dark Knight asks, narrowing his eyes. He's responded to with more nodding. He gestures to the van, totally black with tinted windows, the four pile in and Wally takes the wheel; they're off to find suspects.

* * *

"Name, date of birth, age and hometown?" Red asks Edge, holding her folder.

"Amy Wright, February 4th, twenty two, Capitola, California." Edge says without blinking. She gives him an easy smile and asks, "And you?"

Red smirks and says, "William Skye, September 17th, twenty three, Leesburg Virginia.

"Any siblings, Amy?" Red asks, trying to get used to calling her that.

"Jack, my younger brother, he's a junior in high school, and Anna; she's only in 8th grade." She says fondly, and believably.

"Nice, what's your favorite type of food?" Red asks her politely.

"Hmmmm, maybe pizza with pepperoni and black olives... What about you?"

"Dunno, probably just a sub sandwich." Red shrugs.

"Do you prefer to be called Will or William?

"Will, William was my dad." Red replied, almost bitterly; stick to the backstory.

Edge turned to Wally and Artemis and asked to see their drivers license, and gave them a pop quiz on their character.

Red and Edge continued to ask random questions about "themselves" as the car drive went on.

The car pulled up to LexCorp, and the four teens disguised as adults piled out, headed in two different directions for the interview, and hopefully, on the spot hiring.

Lex Luther was even more haughty than the last time Edge had met with him, though she had been masked then, so he didn't recognize her. Luther took her resume first and asked, "Aren't you a bit young to be in this line of work?"

"Would you like me to demonstrate my fighting skill?" Edge asked in a cold monotone. He gestured for one of five thugs to come forward.

The thug charged her, she sidestepped slightly, and without flinching, flipped him, pulled the gun from his holster, cocked it and pointed at his head. Lex nodded and she dropped the gun and settled into a fighting stance as the other thugs came at her; she made quick work of them; all joined their companion on the ground within a minute, slower than she normally would but if she was too good it would arouse suspicion.

Lex Luther nodded again, saying, "Excellent. You'll have your assignment in the morning, send your friend in on the way out, alright?"

Edge nods and walks out, Red comes in.

He faces a similar test and passes just as easily, Luther is pleased.

"You and your girlfriend will both receive your assignments in the morning, be here by nine."

Red resists the urge to tell him that she's not his girlfriends but he doubts Luther will note the difference, so he stays quiet, nods and walks out.

They were in.


	6. Teenager-ness

"How'd you guys do?" Artemis asks them.

Edge nods and says, "We got the job, what about you?"

Artemis nods, Wally shrugs and says, "Yeah, we get front door monitoring."

Red climbs into the van first, gesturing for the others to follow him. They comply, Wally hops in the front seat and Artemis tosses him the keys before getting in the passenger side. Edge slides in next to Red.

"I wonder what we'll be assigned to." Edge says, thinking aloud.

Red shrugs and stares out the window, Edge rolls her eyes and follows in suit, staring out her window, watching the city lights blur by as they speed away towards the apartment which would become the center of operations for the mission as well as where they would be living for the next few weeks.

The apartment building was pretty empty and a tad run down; after all, they were living on the wages of bodyguards and security guards; but their rooms would have hidden spaces and walls that rotate to reveal computers and weapons. High tech with it's head down.

The four teens flooded out of the van, walking into the lobby. A skinny blonde looks at them questioningly as they walk in, Red walks over and says, "We're the new people; we're here to get the keys."

Barbie-girl immediately starts fluttering her eyelashes and smiling saying, "Well, alright." She throws Artemis and Edge sour looks, Artemis glares back, protectively moving closer to Wally. Edge rolls her eyes and doesn't bother responding to the flirtatious Barbie.

After five minutes of "searching" for the keys, bending over and "stretching" Edge is finally fed up with the overly flirty girl; she pushes Red aside and raises an eyebrow. The Barbie-like-girl purses her lips and glares, rather conspicuously, at Edge. Edge counts down from five on her fingers before sliding over the counter, ducking down to pull out a drawer and emerges with the keys a few seconds later.

She looks at the other girl pointedly, "Not that hard. And he's not even _that_ cute."

Red colors but Edge doesn't notice. She twirls the keys around her index finger and walks deeper into the building coolly.

The other three teens eyes widen and the shrug, then they follow Edge to the elevator.

Artemis snickers once they're out of the Barbies earshot, "Did you see her face?"

Edge smirks and the two girl high-five, the boys look at each other, a little confused about what exactly just happened. They shrug it off just as the elevator reaches the eighth floor. The doors open and they walk out, in search of 820. The numbers are unorganized and the hallways musty stench overwhelms the noses of any who is unfortunate to walk though it. The drab, brownish-stained wallpaper is littered with graffiti and writing as well as some scorch marks. Red, Wally and Artemis stop to study it, mortified. Edge keeps on walking, muttering about their decent luck.

"Found it!" Wally hollers, nearly scaring the other out of their skins because of the sudden noise; the whole place was creepily quiet.

Wally struggles with the lock and key for a while before finally pushing the door open. They scramble in, checking out the rooms and kitchen. There were two bedrooms with two loft beds each, a cheap desk underneath the loft. A ratty couch and archaic television and a wooden chair make up the living room. The kitchen was average and useable with a basic refrigerator; nothing interesting the entire apartment.

Artemis and Edge inspect both bedrooms before claiming the one on the right as the girls room.

"What?" Wally protests, "Who said girls got first pick?"

Edge rolls her eyes and replies, "Whoever invented 'ladies first'."

"Oh Please! You two are not ladies! Ladies can't break a neck in fourteen different ways! Or fire arrows and throw knives with 95 percent accuracy!"

Both girls glare, insulted, and reply simultaneously, "98 percent!"

Red rolls his eyes and says to Wally, "Pick your battles, bro."

Wally nods, huffs and slams the door.

The door protests; squeaking, squealing and creaking before finally rebelling. It fell off its hinges and nearly crashed into Red; he dodged it in a tight, neat, roll out of the way. Wally puts his hands on his head and attempts to pull his hair out. This was going to be a very long couple of weeks.

* * *

The boys door was held on to the wall by hot pink duct tape, courtesy of Barbie. Edge had tried to make dinner, but promptly remembered that they had no food, she shakes her head and grudgingly orders pizza.

The pizza finally arrives and they give the guy fifteen dollars, he winks at Artemis, but runs the second Wally narrows his eyes.

Artemis and Edge claim half of the pizza and escape to the room, sick of the boys; both wanting the scoop on each other's red head.

They each settle on their own beds and pass the box of pizza back and forth of the two foot gap between the beds; this room was tiny!

"So, what's with you and KF?" Edge says, picking a black olive off her slice and eating it.

Artemis blushes and says, "Well... I don't really know, we haven't talked about it and he hasn't asked me out."

Edge rolls her eyes, "He will eventually, he's just building up the courage."

Artemis sighs and mutters, "I hope so." Then, she quickly changes the subject, "So, you and Roy?"

"Nothing there." She replies.

"Denial!" Artemis exclaims, "You were totally jealous of that girl at the counter."

"Barbie-girl? Why would I? Just cuz I dislike her doesn't mean I'm falling for Headache."

Artemis crosses her arms an retorts,"You don't even realize it yet!"

Edge colors and is about to reply when there is a crash from outside the door. Another crash, followed by a yelp and the two red head boys tumbles in, swinging the door open by accident.

Extend arm, palm to face.

* * *

Authors note!

so this was more of a teenage-weirdness-amusingness. i'll get back to the main action/mystery in the next one; but we needed a bit of bonding in this.

let me know what you think-review?:)


	7. Alarms and Introductions

The two red-headed boys tumble through the now open door, a pink blush darkening by the second until it's almost the same color as the hair on top of their heads. Both boys start attempting to explain at the same moment.

"I-"

"It's not what you-"

Their poor attempts are cut short by the girls giggling, Edge laughs harder than she has in a long time, her eyes started to water. Artemis nearly fell off her bed. (if she had she would have landed on Wally, which would have, no doubt, induced more giggling and screeching. Red and Wally were baffled by the girls reaction.

After calming dowrn the four of them settle in the living room, Artemis and Wally cramming on the couch, Edge decides the floor is her best bet, and Red joins her after the wooden chair breaks after Wally bumped into it earlier (the first crash, the second crash was Wally tripping over the rest of the chair, on to Red and through the door.)

"So everything's going according to plan." Wally says blandly, "This doesn't happen often."

"Yeah, we're six hours in an nothing has spontaneously combusted! A new record on a mission, right?" Red laughs.

Edge raises her eyebrows playfully, "And I thought you were professionals!"

Wally scoffs, "Ha! That's one way of putting it!"

"Yeah, generally it goes like this," Artemis says with a roll of her eyes, then continues, "We come, we carry out half the plan, get shot at, explosion, magic or sorcery or more shooting, then we think of an on the spot plan, it goes awry, something unexpected happens or explodes and we win."

"Ta-da!" Wally adds, waving his hands around ridiculously.

Red smirks and elbows Edge in the shoulder, "And they wonder why most teen heroes want to work alone; because this is the alternative!"

Artemis rolls her eyes, "Right, that's totally why."

EEEEEKKKK!EEEEKKK! EEEEEEEEKKKKLK!

The team struggles to cover their ears, Edge rushes to the kitchen; then origin of the ear-splitting shriek, and fumbles with the timer before finally turning it off. Artemis storms down to the lobby, and returns after a minute, Barbie in tow.

"What was that?!" Edge says through gritted teeth, fingering her right ear.

"Oh, that alarm? That goes off every hour, our handyman Joe can't fix it." She sniffs.

Red sighs and waves Barbie away. The second she shuts the door, all four rush to the stove, or, more particularly, it's timer. Eight hands grab, tear, wire, rewire, connect and generally geek-out. Ten minutes of this are enough for Artemis and she backs off; amused by the full on geek-race against the clock. Wally, Red and Edge are done with the stove by 10:18. They looked dissatisfied, like tearing apart a stove and putting it back together again should have taken them 13 minutes instead of 18. She laughs and the others turn around, inquisitively. Artemis waves them off and continues snickering at their confused expressions.

"Alright, we better start getting some sleep; Luther might fire us if we come to work imperfect fighting machines." Red declares, heading for his room. The others follow in suit, the day had been exhausting; prepping to impress a bad guy then impressing a bad guy, dealing with just being teenagers and then that alarm...

* * *

The teens are up by seven in the morning, ready and showered by 8, in the van by 8:15 and on the look out for a coffee shop by 8:30.

"Good Morning, Sir." Edge says, her face stony and unemotional when she monotonously replies to Lex Luthers greeting.

Lex chuckles and leans over, whispering to her, amused by her seriousness, "Don't be so serious."

Edge raises an eyebrow, forcing a sour smile before replying, "Sir, I'm here for my assignment, protecting someone is serious business. If you take the life of the assigned person lightly, then I have no quarrel doing so as well." She finished curtly.

Lex laughs, "Ah, I see."

Red has to force his mouth shut before he says something that could get him fired.

"Anyways," Luther says walking towards the window, "The two of you will be assigned as a team, protecting a friend of mine." He gestures at the door and a figure draped in black comes sweeping into the room, the room feels darker and the air becomes sluggish and heavy; like breathing in water, its uncomfortable and eventually deadly.

Edge's eyes narrow at him, she's not happy to see him. She is, however, very pleased she was wearing a mask and was much younger last time they crossed paths. Ink would give her away faster than he could blink, and more reliably than the sun coming up each morning. Edge calmed her fast-beating heart before it could noticeably speed up; Ink noticed everything, every bead of sweat, every tense muscle; they all led to suspicion and that was something they couldn't afford on this mission.

Ink walks over, silent as a ghost and studies them; beady eyes narrowed and swimming with suspicion as his pale lips form a dissatisfied frown.

"You expect this scrawny girl-child to be able to ward assassins? You are truly stupid, Lex Luther." Ink says, his voice scratchy, almost hiss-like. Fitting, the snake that he is, Edge thinks.

Red immediately dislikes the man scrutinizing Edge, he gives everyone in the room goosebumps and gets away with calling Lex Luther stupid; not the kind of guy anyone wants to mess with.

Ink whirls around to the two bodyguards and hisses "Give me a show! Fight!"


	8. Suspected

"Give me a show! Fight!" Ink hisses again. The two bodyguards in disguise look at each other questioningly, unsure how to respond.

Lex Luther nods, his eyes narrow as he silently assesses their ability to follow orders. Edge drops down first, Red follows in suit. They're no waiting or banter as there usually is when they spar, instead they get right down to business. Red lunges forward, hurtling towards her. She ducks under his fists, retaliating with a knee jamming into his gut. He gasps for air but kicks out from the ground, connecting with the back of her knee. Edge curses under her breath, lunges at him, fist driving into his shoulder, Red rolls, catching her hands and pinning her to the ground, she brings her legs up and kicks up, her feet connect with his chest and he's sent flying. Edge races over, Red's standing by the time she reaches him. Red throws a quick jab, catching her side. She hisses from the sharp pain, and ducks under a punch, rockets up and rams her elbow into the center of his chest, followed by a fist to the collarbone. Red curses and narrows his eyes, rushing towards her, closing the small gap. Edge sees it coming a second too late, his fist pounds across the left side of her face, and her nose gushes blood. Edge doesn't hesitate in her counter-attack. She roars in anger and flies at him, only her right eye open as her foot meet his chest, he's pushed back several feet, and barely parries her next attack. Out of nowhere, her foot flies up, hitting him across the jaw and again over the nose before she backflips out of his reach.

"Enough!" Lex Luther demands after Ink fails to, He whirls angrily on Ink, "They've more than proven their capability, if this gets much worse they'll have to be temporarily replaced because of their injuries! Do you know how hard it was to find fighters of this quality?"

Ink nods, smirking, "Yes, they are ferocious indeed; perhaps even a match for some of the non-powered heroes in the League and side-kicks team. I am almost looking forward to an assassination attempt!"

Edge resists the urge to stop the flow of blood from her nose, but stands to attention, ignoring the hot flow of blood running down her face, chin and neck, seeping onto her clothes.

Lex looks at her in disgust and waves someone over, "Escort over there to the physician." He looks over Red as well and adds, "Bring with you. Twenty minutes tops and their assignment starts."

The two are led through the building to a pure-white office that smells of office supplies and faintly of dried blood. The young man looks like he's only few years older than Red, Luther probably hired him right out of school...based on the vials in the corner, half-hidden, this guy's probably working on some illegal serum for Cadmus. He colors when he sees Edge, and the shade of pink darkens when he sees her raised eyebrow.

"Hello? Blood gushing from face?" Edge says, irritated.

"Right. Ice and tissues. New clothes. Got it?" He says to the guard. The guard nods and scurries off. "I'm Aaron Greene, the building physician."

"I'd ask why this place needs a doctor, but I can see why." Edge says, only half interested in the conversation. Red's brow furrows, but he says nothing.

"Yeah, you gonna give me an excuse or the truth about those bruises and that nose?" He raises an eyebrow, "I've heard it all."

"We fought, tied and beat each other up, bad."

"Looks like you got the worst of it." Greene says.

"You'd be wrong." Edge says, sweetly. A dangerous glint enters her eyes, "So get off my back, alright?"

He nods and turns to Red, "You hurt or just accompanying your girlfriend?"

Red grits his teeth and replies, "I just want so ice; like five or six packs, and some tape."

"What do you need six ice packs for?"

"Just be glad you'll never be on the receiving end of that girls hits; she's strong despite her size." Red huffs.

Greene laughs and nods as Edge retorts, "I'm not small! I'm five feet six inches!"

"Small." Red and Greene state simultaneously, resulting in glaring both ways. Edge stands back, amused, holding tissue to her face a minute after the bleeding supposedly stopped, just to be safe. Greene handed her a t-shirt. She grabbed it and crossed her arms.

"Bathroom is where?" She asks.

"Four doors down."

She nods and leaves, returning within a minute, wearing the new shirt. Edge shrugs, and raises her eyebrows at them.

Red rolls his eyes, not liking the way Greene looks over Edge. He promptly drags Edge out of the room, back up to Ink and Luther. Red tapes the ice packs to various bruises underneath his shirt as they walk, partially wondering why Edge's face turned pink, but dismissing it. The two of them had lost their guard somewhere along the way. But there were security cameras everywhere, not the time to snoop around. They'd be back later.

Red and Edge report back to the room, two minutes to spare.

Luther nods and says, "You'll be protecting Ink and his daughter, Grace." If this is the Grace Edge knows, this mission just got a lot more complicated.

Grace walks into the room from the elevator, fingering a long, thin knife. One of thirteen strapped in a row on her waist. She's the wealthy, bratty and way more criminal version of Edge.

Grace walks over to the two bodyguards, "Is this the new meat? Annie needs feeding, so the girl can go now. The boy can stay." She grins wickedly at them, expecting a response. She gets none except an amused glance between the two bodyguards. Edge has to resist raising an eyebrow at the mention of the huge tiger though, Annie's given her scars in the past. That's the thing about both sides not being fond of you; you get a lot of scars from both sides.

"They aren't new meat in that sense. They're our new bodyguards." Ink says in his raspy voice, fingering his own knife before sharpening it. Red notices that he too has thirteen knives hidden under his coat. What is this? Some sort of knife-throwing cult? His eyes involuntarily widen when he remembers that Edge usually carries thirteen knives, herself.

Red narrows his eyes, and hardens his heart. Edge is a suspect, now. One of three standing in the same room. But he'd be lying if he said he didn't hope it was Grace or Ink instead of her. He's biased, and he's begun to realize it.


	9. Because the Universe Hates Us

Grace smirks at the pair of bodyguards, obviously amused by them, "You actually think I need protection? I could protect myself better without these to getting in my way."

Ink sighs, "Well, dear. If you hadn't been late you would have seen the demonstration, now wouldn't you?"

She pouts. Then whips her head around to face Edge, pin-straight hair swishing around. "You. What do you specialize in, if you're so good. Answer me now."

Edge's sharp eyes meet Grace's arrogant ones as she replies in an unsettling calm voice, "I specialize in hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla, sniping and surveillance, but I dabble in swordsmanship, archery and dagger work." Her words coat the room with an eerie stillness, as Grace realizes just the kind of fighter this girl was. She smiled coolly, this bodyguard has a ruthlessness instilled in her that makes her friend uncomfortable, he too was an uncommon fighter if his posture and muscle were any indicators.

"You'll do. But, by dagger work, what do you mean?" She says smoothly, studying the girl for any hesitation.

"Are you familiar with the term 'stabbing'? I basically put a serrated knife in my hand and use modified close combat moves."

"No throwing?"

"Once upon a time, but I was discouraged by my superiors because of a certain group they didn't want me affiliated with. Ironic, no?" Edge's eye glint, knowing Ink and Grace like to surround themselves with dangerous people; this knowledge would make her interesting and risky. Their favorite.

Glee lights up Grace's face into a cruel sort of happiness, "Ooh! This one's clever! She's my new favorite best friend!"

Ink frowned, "These are our guards, not pets."

Red realized that Grace didn't have friends, just the cruelest, most ruthless people that she pretended were. Narcissistic brat. He had to hand it to Edge though, she knew how these people worked. This worried him a bit, to be honest. His suspicion of her was growing by the hour

Grace whirls around again, this time facing Red. She walks closer, smiling wickedly, "What about you, Cutie? What's your weapon of choice?"

He forces an easy smile at her, "Sniping, close combat and you regular head-bashing."

She grins up at him, even on her four inch heels. She glances over him once more and stalks off, sillettos click-clacking on the floor, which he notices are actually thin blades for the heels. Red decides that hard core knife-throwers are freaking scary.

Ink eyes Red suspiciously, who nods at Ink. Basically saying that he's not interested in her. Daddy Knife seems satisfied with this and follows his daughter out, followed by their two newest bodyguards.

The day was uneventful until lunch, in which a random guy attempted to slap Grace's rear, and Red caught his hand and nearly broke it. Grace was pretty happy about that, but found it even more amusing when another man tried to hit on Edge, and ended up with a face full of dirt. (Ink commented dryly to the man that he was lucky she was in a good mood, or else it would have been asphalt. When Grace raised an eyebrow, he explained that the more of a reputation these two had, the easier it would be to defeat assassins. The intimidation factor, as he called it.) Edge discreetly rolled her eyes.

"Wright!" Grace scowled, "keep you hand on that weapon of yours! So unprepared."

With that, Edge whipped out the serrated blade and dropped low and in front of Grace and promptly sliced a bumble bee in half before it came within a five-foot-radius of Grace.

Grace grudgingly accepted that Amy Wright was impressive to say the least and happily turned her attentions to the red-head standing by her father.

The rest of the day was dull, and at 7pm sharp, the next shift came in for the night watch over the criminal superstars. The two teens met up with Wally and Artemis at the front door after the shift change and they pile into the van to go to the world crappiest apartment complex in the city.

Barbie winks at the boys and sneers at the girls, all of which ignore her. Wally fumbles with the keys and the four of them stumble into the apartment.

"So how was your day?" Artemis asks the two bodyguards wearily.

Edge's forehead rests on the table in response.

"Some guy flirted with her and she gave him a facefull of dirt, it was hilarious." Red grins mischievously at her.

"Hey, you saved Grace from having her butt slapped, aren't you the gentleman." She says with a smirk.

Red's face pinks and his brow furrows, "It's called my flippin' job, don't make anything of it."

She laughs and replies, "I'm teasing, relax!"

Red's face molds into a smirk as he recalls an event from earlier on, "Well at least Grace is better than that Dr. Greene!"

Edge makes a gagging noise, and hits him outside the head. Artemis laughs and Wally's snoring in his chair. Artemis stands up and pokes a pressure point on Wally's neck and he jumps up, his chair rocketing into the blonde archer, and then trips over the table leg. The two and the chair lie in a heap on the brownish carpet, and Edge cheerfully says, "Well, goodnight! I'm headed to bed."

Red laughs and walks over to the fridge as the two others untangle themselves and the wooden chair, blushing furiously.

"Alright, goodnight!" Artemis says as soon as she's on her feet, fleeing with a rad face to the girls room, where Edge immediately cracks up at the sight of her. Red and Wally head to their room and just when everyone's asleep, the oven alarm blares at one o'clock.

Edge pulls a pillow over her head and mutters, "The Universe freaking hates me."


End file.
